Wonderful Wyndham

Advantages: An original writer of imaginative and gripping science fiction.
Disadvantages: Perhaps a little dated now.

...John Wyndham is a British science fiction writer, who started writing in the thirties, but his best known works were written in the 1950s. As a result, much of his fiction is tinged with echoes from the cold war and can seem dated. However, his sheer imagination, brilliant descriptive writing and believable characters make him a must read author, even today. Most people have heard of The Day of the Triffids, as it has been reworked for film and television, as was The Midwich Cuckoos. However, some of Wyndham's slightly less famous books such as Chocky and The Kraken Awakes are just as entertaining and highly readable. The Day of the Triffids begins with one of the best openings to a story I have ever read. The story opens in a hospital, the day after a spectacular firework display caused by thousands of meteorites, which the whole...

drewish 03.06.2005 · Read review
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Review of John Wyndham

Wyndham Hotel Boston

Advantages: Good location and value
Disadvantages: Some things to be improved!

...Wyndham Boston Room rates: We visited the Wyndham Boston in September 2005 and booked via the Wyndham's own website which not only guarantees the best rates (and this is true as I did a LOT of checking!) it also entitles you to membership of Wyndham By Request whereby you specify your room type preferences such as bedding and also a free welcome drink and snack upon arrival; a nice touch! We were also contacted on two occasions by our Wyndham Request Manager Jessica to check if everything was okay with our stay. We paid approx $160 for a twin room including breakfast. If you can be flexible over dates then you can get some great deals on room rates with some rooms only rates being available from $120 +. Check in and the room: We arrived at about 1pm after a long flight and had to wait about an hour for our room but...

nickjj78 12.11.2005 · Read review
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Review of Wyndham, Boston

Wyndham's masterpiece

Advantages: Excellent on every level
Disadvantages: The premise might take a bit of swallowing

..."The Day of the Triffids" marked a turning point in John Wyndham's career, as he adopted a new pseudonym and style, and showed a marked improvement in his talent as well as his sales. The plot is probably familiar to everyone - with most of the human race blinded, man-eating plants take over. It sounds daft, but in Wyndham's hands the situation is portrayed convincingly. Fortunately Wyndham does not allow the book to dissolve into melodrama. Instead he shows in a convincing and thoughtful manner how different people might cope with the disaster, from panic and giving up, through the introduction of a police state, to the more benevolent society that the protagonist and his friends dedicate themselves to. There is no deus ex machina: no one discovers a miracle cure or weapon, they simply fight on as best they can, and by the end...

NeilHudson 01.10.2000 · Read review
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Review of The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Look out for the Mutants

Advantages: Great story telling, not over padded, likeable characters...
Disadvantages: Could have gone further at the end?

...Anybody who had ever read a book by John Wyndham would heartily recommend him to me, but it was not until I was in my mid thirties, with a balding scalp and a swelling belly that I finally got around to reading one of his works. Would I read anymore, and would I be one of said people heartily recommending his books to others? Yes and Yes. For those who do not know, Mr Wyndham is the British author of several Sci-Fi classics such as The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos (filmed as Village of the Damned), Chocky and the book I am about to discuss? The Chrysalids. He is now dead, but his memory lives on and will do so for many a year. Our hero of the Chrysalids is David. David lives in a world set in the future where everyone has gone back to basics following the ?Tribulation.? In this God-fearing world, it is required that...

Borg 04.06.2003 (06.05.2009) · Read review
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Review of The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

The Triffids are Coming

Advantages: Tense, atmospheric, compellingly written
Disadvantages: Dialogue feels slightly stuffy in places

...In John Wyndham's 1951 novel 'Day of The Triffids', main protagonist Bill Masen awakes in a London hospital to find that his eyes are heavily bandaged and nobody appears to be around to attend to him. Tentatively removing his bandages and discovering that he is still able to see, Masen quickly discovers that the hospital is deserted and some terrible catastrophe appears to have occured, with the city in a state of abject chaos. Everyone appears to be blind, with some people choosing to drink themselves into oblivion in the numerous pubs throughout the city, whist others cling to one another in an attempt to find food and somehow remain alive. Masen remembers the radio reports about strange cosmic phenomena in the sky that played out during the weeks he was incapacitated in the hospital, and it soon becomes apparent that watching...

Burning_Darkness 02.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Thinking In A Quicksand Of Your Mind

Advantages: Entertaining, occasionally thought-provoking
Disadvantages: Two-dimensional characterisation, tapers off

...John Wyndham is best known for “The Day of the Triffids”. Although “The Midwich Cuckoos” (filmed as “The Village of the Damned”) and “The Chrysalids” under review here, also attracted considerable interest. Wyndham is an interesting, very British, science fiction writer. He does not deal in fantasy worlds with hosts of unfamiliar creatures battling each other for control of galaxies. Wyndham’s novels may not be parochial but they are very much earthbound, with a rogue element introduced which creates the dramatic conditions for his novels. In the case of “The Chrysalids” Wyndham is concerned with a post nuclear holocaust scenario – the novel was written in 1955 when the Cold War threat was a very real one – where the effects of radiation have devastated...

JoePoirot 04.09.2004 · Read review
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Review of The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

Eat your greens before they eat you !!

Advantages: Great Read.
Disadvantages: None

...The Day of the Triffids. This is one of my favourite books (and film) and is one of John Wyndham's best known books. I remember seeing the film many many years ago but it wasn't until perhaps 10 years ago that I got around to reading the book; it was/is a cracking read. I currently have an Easton Press First Edition and give it a reading every now and then. Synopsis; ~~~~~~ Bill Masen is a biologist working on a farm that genetically engineers Triffids for their Oils. The Oil is of a higher grade if the 'stinger' is left in tact. Unfortunately Bill gets some venom mist across his eyes one day; it's the luckiest day of his life. Whilst in hospital, Bill misses out on a planet wide comet show as the sky is lit up all night with eerie green flashes. The next morning he awakes in a hospital in complete silence. No doctors...

Maximus-Qualitus 18.07.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Does my second head make me a deviant?

Advantages: Thoughtful, intelligent sci-fi...
Disadvantages: ... some occasionally long-winded speeches

...The Chsysalids by John Wyndham is a post-apolaclyptic vision of a world where people are obsessed with conformity to the norm, or in their words, "the image of God". Anyone who does not conform to this image becomes an outcast, and the women who are categorised as Deviants are sterilised before being sent off. The "image of God" has 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 eyes, 1 nose, 5 digits at the end of eat hand and foot? etc. You get the idea. The narrator of this book is David, a young, apparently normal boy who finds out quite early on that he is not quite normal? but to all outward appearances he is, so is safe from the religious-minded people around him, chief of whom is his father. Not so lucky is a girl he meets who has a physical deviation, and this causes him to wonder whether it really is the will of God being done by the zealots here...

CaptainDisaster 31.08.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Chrysalids - John Wyndham

Chocky - Is there anybody out there?

Advantages: Easy reading.
Disadvantages: Slow Going throughout.

...a small book. Take it on holiday, you will enjoy it. I recently learned that chocky was on TV in the 80's but can't say I remember it. It apparently and did very well. John Wyndham was born in England in 1903 and was a writer of many a sci-fi tales such as "The Midwich Cuckoos" otherwise know as the "Village of the Damned". "The Day of the Triffids", (my personal favourite), "The Kraken Wakes", "The Trouble with Lichen" and "The Chrysalids". Sadly John died in 1969 but his books I believe stand the test of time and as an easy read, younger readers will have no problem with them. Put simply, a book worth reading.............ONCE. Greg...

Maximus-Qualitus 26.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Chocky - John Wyndham

A True Classic

Advantages: Amazing atmosphere, beautiful prose, great characters...
Disadvantages: ... seems to end rather abruptly

...Probably his best-known work and also possibly his best, The Day of the Triffids has been made into films and TV series, but nothing can beat the book. As with other of Wyndham's works, it is classic sci-fi with more accessibility to people who are not fans of / unfamiliar with the genre because it focuses on how people respond to the scientific crisis / event rather than going into unwieldy detail about the event itself. In fact in The Day of the Triffids, much is left to guesswork - even at the end of the book we are left with a good estimate of what happened, but are unsure if it's totally accurate. The book is told in first-person narration by biologist Bill Mason, who's had a very frustrating time recently - he's in hospital unable to see. It is only a temporary condition - he hopes - as the doctors were able to treat him...

CaptainDisaster 25.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham